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CBS News is hoping to find stability in its struggling marquee evening newscast as the network plans on turning the page in the new year with a new anchor.
The Tiffany Network announced Wednesday that Tony Dokoupil, who currently co-hosts "CBS Mornings," will take over the "CBS Evening News" anchor desk beginning Jan. 5.
"We live in a time in which many people have lost trust in the media. Tony Dokoupil is the person to win it back," CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss said in a press release. "That’s because he believes in old school journalistic values: asking the hard questions, following the facts wherever they lead and holding power to account. Americans hungry for fairness will see that on display night after night."
"Tony is what everyone wants in an evening-news anchor – authentic, compassionate, unafraid," CBS News President Tom Cibrowski said. "He connects instantly, whether he’s talking with world leaders or with families navigating difficult news in their own backyards."
ANTI-ISRAEL CRITICS FUME AS TONY DOKOUPIL TAPPED TO ANCHOR 'CBS EVENING NEWS'
CBS News names Tony Dokoupil as its new anchor of "CBS Evening News." (Michele Crowe/CBS via Getty Images)
Dokoupil will be the fourth anchor to helm "CBS Evening News" since 2019, and the seventh since the scandal-plagued exit of veteran CBS anchor Dan Rather in 2005.
None of them held the job for more than six years.
Katie Couric, Scott Pelley, Jeff Glor and Norah O'Donnell all had turns in the chair — and all faced significant losses of viewers in the advertiser-coveted key demo ages 25-54, according to Nielsen data. Couric had the most dramatic drop in viewership, losing nearly 30% of her total viewers and 35% of viewers in the key demo from when she first started in 2006 til her departure from the network in 2011.
"CBS Evening News" took a notable hit with co-anchors John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois, who took over last January after O'Donnell stepped down. Over the past year, Dickerson and DuBois shed more than half a million total viewers, including 24% in the key demo.
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Tony Dokoupil is the latest anchor tasked to revive "CBS Evening News" following predecessors like Norah O'Donnell, Scott Pelley and Katie Couric. (Michele Crowe/CBS via Getty Images; John Paul Filo/CBS via Getty Images; Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images)
For decades, "CBS Evening News" has been the perpetual third place newscast behind ABC's "World News Tonight" and "NBC Nightly News." Unlike CBS, the other two networks have had talent sustainability in the evenings. Before Tom Llamas took over NBC's newscast in June, his predecessor Lester Holt led "Nightly News" for nearly ten years. ABC's David Muir has been the face of "World News Tonight" since 2014.
In 2025, "World News Tonight" led the three evening newscasts averaging 7.7 million total viewers, "NBC Nightly News" followed with 6.2 million total viewers. Meanwhile, "CBS Evening News" trailed with an average of just 4 million viewers, representing only 22% of the total audience share between the three networks.
John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois were pushed out of "CBS Evening News" after just a year at the anchor desk. (Michele Crowe/CBS News via Getty Images)
A lot is riding on Dokoupil to turn around the beleaguered program as well as his newly-minted boss Weiss, who reports directly to new Paramount owner David Ellison.
Weiss, who has never worked in television before, was tapped by Ellison to be the Tiffany Network's editor-in-chief, handpicked the "CBS Mornings" co-host to lead the evening newscast — though Dokoupil reportedly wasn't her first choice for the job.
Nonetheless, Dokoupil's appointment marks Weiss' biggest move yet as the CBS honcho.
BARI WEISS’ CRITICS INSIDE CBS NEWS FALL INTO TWO DISTINCT CAMPS, NETWORK INSIDER SAYS
CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss handpicked Doukoupil to be the new face of "CBS Evening News," marking her biggest move yet at the network. (Noam Galai/Getty Images for The Free Press)
CBS News did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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Joseph A. Wulfsohn is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @JosephWulfsohn.
